The Morning Riot

The first night in Alor, our fan was broken. (Yes, I was devastated). Fortunately, it cools down enough that you can still sleep pretty well. By morning we are usually both covered by light scarf that we use as a sheet. Without the humming of the fan, the first night was a real experience. From probably 3 a.m., just as in Jogjakarta, the rooster begin to crow. Around 4:00 or 4:30, I started to get a little nervous because I could shouting far away. I couldn’t figure out exactly where it was coming from, because it seemed to be moving, but not coming closer or further away. Eventually, after waking Matt up full of paranoia (probably a bit of Larium nervousness left over), he confirmed that he didn’t hear anything at all.

Well, if you know at all how Matt sleeps (like he’s dead), this was definitely not the case, but after a few more minutes of listening, I discovered, that the noisy riot was not people, but animals. Birds, roosters, goats, pigs, and who knows what else. I couldn’t believe it when I realized what I was hearing. There were hundreds of roosters all crowing… Sending the message to everyone that light was coming.

Soon.

(by 6:00)

Around 5:00 or 5:30, you can hear a bit more noise outside. This time, it was people out eating breakfast. Because it is currently Ramadan, Muslims eat their first meal before sunrise. Even after just a few days this has become a nice morning noise- a few people up eating breakfast before the sun rises, then heading back to bed for an hour or two before they head off to work.